Talking Point

CHINA INTERNATIONAL
FURNITURE FAIR (SHANGHAI) 2016

NECC, HongQiao, Shanghai, China
7-10 September 2016

Brian Westman - Owner
Westman Agencies
West Midlands, England

“The market outlook in England is strong despite Brexit, I don’t think it will as
big an issue as everyone expects but there are still a lot of uncertainties in the
market, so just at the moment it is tough. But I’m pretty sure that things will
come around. Obviously there’s the problem with the dollar rise at the moment,
but I would imagine by next year it would settle down and I’m very optimistic.”

Mark Robertson - iQue Living
Australia

“I work as a consultant for clients in Australia. I am over
here to do all the homework, and find the right furniture and
companies to match with retailers in Australia. I see more
fabric in the recent furniture trend and leather disappearing.
Speaking from the Australian furniture market point of view,
it’s going to be more about size, with more apartments being
built, I think our homes are going to be slightly smaller therefore
sofas and relative furniture will also need to be smaller.”

Nick Cancea
Director
Kyoto Futons Holdings
Limited
United Kingdom

“We are a manufacturer and
wholesaler of sofas and sofa beds.
We traditionally buy from Malaysia and Europe. The trend
now is in the contemporary line which is where I am at
the moment. The furniture market outlook in England is
mixed because of the situation rumoured at Brexit but
generally speaking our company is progressing quite well
and we are quite pleased at that.”

Turki Adel Khayat - Founder
Tak Imports
Saudi Arabia

“At Tak Imports, my natural work is importing furniture from
China. I have an office in Guangzhou and Saudi Arabia. I travel
to China often, and I like everything here. We also like to be
here in China to establish great relationships with businesses
here. Saudi Arabian furniture market is amazing, people go there
for great business opportunities.”

Ziad Zoubair - President
Wood and Wood
Quebec, Canada

“Wood and Wood is a furniture design and manufacturing
company. I’m here to look for suppliers of furniture or furniture
parts for my company. In the Canadian furniture market, I
always believe that there is room when you are different from
your competitor. The market is not booming but in general
it is not bad depending where you are in Canada. I can tell
you that Toronto is doing well, while other parts are doing
not as well. But in general it is not bad.”

Federico Levi - Partner, Manager
Sofa Center
Buenos Aires, Argentina

“My company sells sofas, tables and chairs made of aluminium,
wood and different materials with multiple stores in Argentina.
We are here to buy sofas, tables and chairs mainly. The
furniture market in Argentina is growing, but I don’t think many
young people are in the furniture business, which is a problem.
With more furniture stores in Buenos Aires, people will think
more about designing their houses, stimulating the market. We
are here in China to look for different designs and bring diversity to
our clients.”

Naveen Tewari
Bantus Interiors Pvt. Ltd.
India

“I am here to purchase furniture for my
company. My company traditionally
source solid wood classical furniture
products from Indonesia, leather
sofas from China, and other furniture
from Malaysia to sell to retailers in
India. India has a huge furniture market
and if I am not wrong it is one of the biggest
importers of furniture from China as cost of
operations for quality furniture in China is much cheaper compared
to India. China is a huge furniture manufacturing hub with many
European companies building their manufacturing factories here
and many are collaborating with local manufacturers as well.”

Sonia Maritan - Architect
Webandmagazine s.r.l.
Milano, Italy

“I am an architect and a technical journalist from Webandmagazine, Italy. I am here to
find out more about the materials, the trends, and the innovations offered at this fair. So
far I like what I am seeing.”

Chris Rousseau - Buyer
France

“I’m from a trading company, sourcing products that are innovative
and modern for the french market. For the global market, smart
furniture will probably be the most trendy in the next 10 years as the
space in our homes are getting smaller and smaller.”

Tao Xi Xi - Designer
Rui Chi Designs
Shanghai, China

“I am a furniture designer. I am here to explore the designs here at CIFF
and to find inspiration. This exhibition’s designs are good but personally,
I prefer the exhibition designs in Guangzhou. For the Chinese furniture
market, it is quite good in all sectors right now, but it depends on how
you go about it.”

FURNITURE CHINA 2016

“I’m a designer and I’m here to purchase furniture and decorations to be used
in my future design projects. For this exhibition, I think the W5 design hall had
many pleasant surprises. The modern Chinese furniture style is picking up
in popularity. The brands that design this style are getting better and better,
almost matching the popularity of contemporary style furniture.”

Dave Purba - President
Buyers Group Canada Inc.
Ontario, Canada

“I’m a buyer from Buyers Group Inc., a furniture distributor,
buying from China and selling in Canada. So far, I’m liking
what I see in the exhibition. The Canadian furniture market is
seeing a new model becoming more popular. We used to buy
more traditional furniture but we are slowly moving towards
buying modern furniture.”

“I am in the retail and wholesale business with Sun City Furniture and River City furniture.
The United States furniture market is getting stronger, we’re coming out of a bad time
so I’d say that things have been getting better since October of last year but we will
see after the upcoming big election. The American furniture trend seems to be heading
towards the style of American brand - Crate and Barrel.”

Shi Feng - Designer
Jiangxi, China

“I am a designer and I am here with a mindset to study and learn
from the great designers. I liked the exhibition so far, but I love
furniture with technology elements so I would have loved to see
more furniture with this feature.”

“I’m here to admire the designs at the exhibition. I really like the home
furniture exhibits, especially the sofas and luxury furniture. The Chinese
furniture market today is pretty good as the building and furniture sector
are benefiting from the country’s rapid development.”

Aso Khidir - Director
Furniture Land Direct
East Yorkshire, England

“At Furniture Land Direct, we sell general furniture
but TV stands and coffee tables are our main
products. This exhibition brought me here, to see
more furniture and purchase for my company. I
am seeing a lot of basic furniture the UK market
right now, unlike here in Furniture China where you
can see so many different furniture designs. In the
UK, basic furniture is the most popular.”

Lee Zhi Yong - Buyer
Woody Furniture
Johor Bahru, Malaysia

“Our company is in the
manufacturing business, producing
furniture products for Europe, North
America, South America, Middle
East, Australia, South Africa and other
countries. Although the facility is too
large for my taste, the exhibition is pretty
good. My favourite part of the exhibition
would be the dining sets and living room sets.”

“I am from India, but my work is in Dubai. I am here to purchase
furniture for a new store of my company, Royal Furniture. We already
have 14 stores in Dubai, and this will be our 15th store. China is world
famous for their furniture fairs where you get everything under one roof,
that is the biggest advantage of coming here. The Dubai furniture market
is a little sluggish right now, but it will definitely get better next year and we will be expecting a
good response from the market.”

“My company retails and trades children’s furniture so I’m
more focused on children’s furniture at this exhibition but
unfortunately there are not many for me to choose from. For
the furniture trend, it seems like China’s furniture market
is now leaning towards contemporary style and modern
Chinese furniture style.”

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